New Ninth Circuit class certification opinion: Berger v. Home Depot USA, Inc.

In Berger v. Home Depot USA, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (Feb. 3, 2014), the Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of class certification of UCL and CLRA claims.

As a preliminary matter, the Ninth Circuit held that it had jurisdiction over the appeal, even though the final judgment in the district court resulted from a stipulated dismissal of the action with prejudice, which the plaintiff agreed to after the district court denied class certification.  Slip op. at 4-6.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 because a dismissal of an action with prejudice, even when such dismissal is the product of a stipulation, is a sufficiently adverse – and thus appealable – final decision.

Id. at 5.

The ensuing discussion of class certification essentially concludes that the UCL and CLRA claims suffered from Kaldenbach problems.  Id. at 6-11.  (For other examples of cases with Kaldenbach problems, see these posts.)